ATLANTA, March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- In a time when the economy seems down for the count, hospitals and healthcare centers are finding themselves in the same position as other businesses and even homeowners - the lack of available financing is putting a damper on major projects and capital budgets.

At Elekta, Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers of oncology and neurosurgical devices and software, a financing program put into place a few years ago is getting new attention as hospitals battered by the economy still work to improve patient care and remain competitive.

Elekta Capital, a program of Elekta, with the support of global finance company De Lage Landen Financial Services, Inc.(1), makes it possible for hospitals and treatment centers to acquire Elekta equipment without worrying about capital expenses and credit lines.

"We offer three types of financing through Elekta Capital," says Mark Symons, Senior Vice President of Elekta's Neuroscience business unit, "a capital lease, a loan, and an operating lease. A capital lease or a loan is a pretty standard financial instrument, but we're seeing an uptick in interest in the operating lease."

"Under an operating lease agreement, the finance company owns the equipment, which is deployed and used by the hospital," explains Symons. "An operating lease removes the burden of having to budget for capital investments. And because the economic viability and return on investment of our systems are proven, the investment risk is well quantified for all parties involved."

"Increasingly we're seeing hospitals trying to take acquisitions of any value off the balance sheet," says Nick Santore, De Lage Landen's Vice President of Healthcare Middle Market Sales. "That way, they can act on an immediate need for the system without waiting for months or years for the item to be funded out of the capital budget."

Another recent trend to accommodate for shrinking budgets is bundling all aspects of a system into a single lease, says Santore. "Hospitals are shopping for equipment, service, software and financing to be arranged all from one source, thereby helping to improve efficiency and reduce costs. So while hospitals still seek to diversify the sources of financing, they are making fewer leasing agreements for larger bundles." He adds that, leases - operating or capital - often help hospitals avoid equipment obsolescence, which can help to prevent loss of volume to other hospitals, treatment centers and physician offices. The manufacturer benefits also because it expedites both the sales and payment process.

Operating leases are receiving renewed interest not only because of the economy. Federal Stark regulations, which limit the extent of physician/hospital joint ventures, will make those arrangements even less common when a new version of the law takes effect on October 1, 2009.

Note: This release is the first in a three-part series on how hospitals are exploring financing alternatives and/or leveraging current assets to maintain a competitive edge. For the complete series, visit Elekta.com.

About Elekta

Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated state of the art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care. Elekta employs around 2,500 employees globally. The corporate headquarter is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on the Nordic Exchange under the ticker EKTAb. For more information about Elekta, please visit www.elekta.com.

About De Lage Landen

De Lage Landen is a global provider of high-quality asset-based financing products. Headquartered in Eindhoven (the Netherlands), De Lage Landen is 100% owned by Rabobank. This Dutch bank is Triple-A rated by the major rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

With offices and joint ventures in more than 35 countries worldwide, De Lage Landen specializes in asset financing and vendor finance programs on a worldwide scale. The global offering also includes an array of commercial finance solutions. The company focuses on the following industries: Food & Agriculture, Healthcare, Office Equipment, Technology Finance, Financial Institutions, Transportation and Construction & Industrial. De Lage Landen also offers private-label leasing programs for the Banking industry, and delivers a broad range of financial services to leasing organizations and non-banking financial institutions. In 2008 De Lage Landen achieved a net profit of euro 235 million and a lease portfolio of euro 23.3 billion. By year-end 2008, De Lage Landen had 4,965 employees. For more information, please visit: www.delagelanden.com.

(1)De Lage Landen and Elekta, are unrelated entities and credit decisions are made by De Lage Landen on a transaction-by-transaction basis.

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